- Japan: US Marine indicted in Okinawa murder
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Prosecutors indicted a 20-year-old US Marine on Sunday on suspicion of robbing and murdering a woman in Okinawa earlier this month as the case renews anti-base sentiment among locals burdened with hosting the bulk of US military installations in Japan. Devin Ballard, who is stationed at Futenma Air Base, is charged with killing the woman by wrapping a phone cord around her neck at a hotel in Naha, the capital of the southern island prefecture, and taking her backpack containing a wallet on October 3, according to the indictment. The cause of death was suffocation, it said. … Following the incident, Okinawa Governor Genta Koja has stepped up calls on the central government to take preventive measures, with locals already angered by past crimes committed by American service members, including those against women and girls, in addition to noise and pollution issues.” (10/25/26)
- Obama slams Ramaswamy and Trump in his first rally of the midterms
Source: Politico
“In his first rally of the 2026 midterm cycle, former President Barack Obama slammed President Donald Trump and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, calling out the latter’s much-maligned campaign ad centering on Democrat Amy Acton’s mother. ‘There’s gotta be something inside you where you just say no office is worth stooping that low,’ Obama said of Ramaswamy’s choice to run the ad. With the midterms just over a week away, Obama was rallying in Cleveland in support of Acton and Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown. Trump, Obama said, had broken a slew of promises he made on the campaign trail in 2024, ensnaring the country in an ongoing war in Iran and failing to bring down costs. Instead, ‘he’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,’ the former president said, taking aim at Trump’s renovations to the executive mansion.” (10/24/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/24/obama-slams-ramaswamy-trump-ohio-rally-midterms-01134765
- Uganda: Regime to Impose 21-Day Quarantine on Returning Citizens With Congo Travel History
Source: US News & World Report
“Ugandan citizens returning to the country with a history of travel to Democratic Republic of Congo will be quarantined for 21 days, Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi said on Sunday as Uganda tightened Ebola precautions despite saying it remained Ebola-free. Uganda has been investigating a Nigerian Ebola case involving a woman who had travelled from Uganda. Officials said they were reviewing genomic sequencing, travel information, interactions and movements in coordination with Nigerian authorities and international partners.” (10/25/26)
- Trump stops taxing American buyers of some Canadian products
Source: Yahoo! Finance
“With an incumbent Maine US senator from his own party locked in a tight reelection battle, President Donald Trump signed an order on Friday to remove 50% tariffs on [American buyers of] some Canadian agricultural and forestry products in a move that could benefit companies from the northern state. The Republican president’s hefty tariffs on Canada have caused friction with the US neighbor to the north while creating problems for American businesses in Maine and other states that rely on certain Canadian goods. … Trump’s order exempted plywood sheets, some paper products, certain machinery and refrigeration equipment, and packing crates and boxes, as well as fresh and dried seaweed, the White House said. The changes take effect on October 30, four days before the election.” (10/23/26)
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-expected-remove-50-tariffs-180534074.html
- Gunmen kill at least 10 villagers and loot shops in northeast Nigeria
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Unknown gunmen have raided a remote village in the northeast Nigerian state of Taraba, killing at least 10 people, looting shops and setting houses ablaze, police say. There are fears the actual death toll is much higher, with eyewitnesses speaking of 20 lives lost and a non-governmental organisation suggesting a toll of as many as 50. The gunmen reportedly swooped on the village of Binnari in the Karim Lamido area mounted on motorcycles just after midday Muslim prayers on Friday in a rampage that went on for up to four hours. Police say they are searching for other casualties in the bush but the authorities were accused by Amnesty International of failing to protect rural communities. Nigeria continues to face attacks by armed groups across several regions, including the northwest, northeast and central regions.” (10/24/26)
- Saudi Arabia: Riyadh airport resumes flights as Houthis warn it remains a target
Source: Kuwait Times [Kuwaiti state media]
“Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport resumed flights on Sunday after a two-week closure that followed strikes by Yemen’s Houthis on the Saudi capital, though the Iran-backed group warned more attacks would come. The Flightradar monitoring website showed a plane taking off from the airport early on Sunday, bound for Jeddah. … The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis said early on Sunday that it had shot down drones over the Riyadh area.” (10/25/26)
- Kenya: Two rescued after Nairobi building collapse, with five still missing
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Two people have been pulled alive from the rubble of a building that collapsed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Friday, as a search continues for five still missing. Police said on Saturday that a manhunt had been launched for the building’s owner and the contractor responsible for the site. Dramatic footage shows the bottom floor of the block, thought to have been 16 or 18 stories, giving way before the rest of the building crumples, sending a plume of dust into the surrounding streets. Dozens of builders had been working on the upper floors when it collapsed, but managed to emerge largely unscathed. Those missing were thought to have been in shops at the base of the building. The incident has raised fresh concerns about construction standards and regulations in Kenya.” (10/24/26)
- Texas man sentenced to prison in $3.1 million NBA Ponzi scheme
Source: United Press International
“A Texas man was sentenced Friday to more than four years in prison for running a $3.1 million Ponzi scheme that promised investors profits from promoting NBA preseason games. Timothy France Johnson, 63 of El Paso, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $3.1 million money judgment. According to prosecutors, Johnson spent 11 years convincing investors to give him money that he claimed would be used to promote NBA preseason basketball games. He then used the money to pay earlier investors and cover personal expenses.” (10/24/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/10/24/NBA-ponzi-scheme-prison-DOJ/5571792895001/
- El Salvador: Bukele says bodies found in Haiti are not those of missing Salvadorans
Source: SFGate
“El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on Saturday denied that human remains handed over to his military teams at Haiti ’s airport were the bodies of the four Salvadorans reported missing after coming under attack by gangs on Oct. 18. An official with El Salvador ’s government, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, confirmed that the bodies found were not those of the missing aviation technicians. The four missing Salvadorans are members of a gang suppression force established by the U.N. Security Council to combat organized crime in the Caribbean nation. Bukele has clarified that the Salvadorans are aviation technicians, not troops trained for combat.” (10/24/26)
- Hundreds of thousands march across France in protests over schools and policing
Source: The Guardian
“Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren’s demands for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his final months as president. In Paris, at least 110,000 people marched along the eastern edge of the city, according to government estimates. They supported high schoolers but also complained of the high cost of living and the government’s heavy policing, saying riot police had been sent to target school protesters over the past month, instead of the government offering political solutions. … But at the end of the Paris demonstration, at Porte de Vincennes on the city’s eastern edge, different groups of masked men dressed in black emerged who had not appeared to have taken part in the peaceful march.” (10/24/26)
- Israel: Regime to close West Bank crossings on election day as crackdown escalates
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“All West Bank land crossings will be closed during Tuesday’s election in Israel, the country’s military says, and Palestinian workers will be barred from entering all [Israeli squats]. The restrictions come amid a crackdown in the occupied West Bank after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers in the territory. The Israel Defense Forces announced ‘a ban on the entry and exit of Palestinian workers throughout Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including industrial zones, as well as the closure of all land crossings’ on Tuesday. It said most workers would also be barred from [squats] from Sunday, with the exception of industrial zones and a limited number of other areas. Before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, more than 100,000 Palestinian workers were permitted to enter Israel. Since then only a small fraction have had their permits restored.” (10/24/26)
- New York Archdiocese agrees to pay $800 million to 1,300 sexual abuse survivors
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The Archdiocese of New York has agreed to pay more than $800m to settle the legal claims of about 1,300 survivors of sexual abuse by clergy. New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks said on Saturday that the settlement will be formally signed on November 6 after an agreement with the plaintiffs and their lawyers. … According to The New York Times, which broke the story, each of the approximately 1,300 survivors will receive at least $250,000 from the Archdiocese of New York and potentially more depending on the severity of the abuse suffered. The settlement is the second-largest of its kind after an $880m deal reached by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2024.” (10/25/26)
- FL: At least 12 people injured in shooting near football stadium
Source: SFGate
“At least 12 people were injured, including six children, in a shooting Saturday near a football stadium in Tallahassee on homecoming weekend for Florida A&M University, authorities said. Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell told reporters that no arrests had been made. In a statement, police said the preliminary investigation indicates that a fight broke out prior to the shooting. It followed a football game in a crowded area. Eleven of the victims sustained gunshot wounds, and at least three victims sustained serious injuries, according to police. The university said on social media that the shooting happened near its campus and that it remained safe.” (10/24/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/at-least-12-people-injured-in-shooting-near-a-22493148.php
- Drone hits another ship in Black Sea near Romania, killing at least one sailor
Source: Politico
“A drone has hit a commercial ship off the coast of Romania, killing at least one crew member with three more still missing, Romanian President Nicușor Dan said Friday. … The Khoryv ship, flying under the flag of Comoros, suffered significant damage, capsized and partially sank, according to Romania’s Interior Ministry. The incident is the latest in a string of drone attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea.” (10/23/26)
- FIREHOSE FRIDAY: Legend of the Annual Fundraiser
Hey, everyone …
THANK YOU to long-time supporter JR, whose $25 donation yesterday (with a note: “Not sure how much your copay is, but hopefully this helps” brings our annual fundraiser total to (as of 5am) $1,028!
Before going any further (it gets a little weird), let me mention that today is a “FIREHOSE FRIDAY” at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper, with no email edition but about 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you here at our web edition.
That “copay” remark from JR refers to yesterday’s update, in which I mentioned a medical appointment. I expected a 45-minute thing, but it turned into a four-plus-hour thing (not including an hour or so of travel time). A big chunk out of my usual work time, which is why I decided to go “web-only” today. Why more than four hours? Read on if you’re interested. But first:
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
We’re $1,723.50 short of our goal. Once we reach $2,751.50, supporter GL will “match funds” to get us to our goal of $5,503.
So: I went to the doctor to find out what kind of procedure I’d need to repair a hole in my left retina. Good news! The hole is too small to bother with, no surgery needed.
BUT!
Well, let me go with more good news: I PROBABLY don’t have cancer.
The four hours was all about multiple rounds of imaging because they saw something else in my eye. Optometrists doing regular eye exams have been mentioning a “freckle” in my eye for a decade or so, but the imaging at the specialist says it’s bigger than that. Ultrasound (one of, IIRC, four kinds of scans) says it is shaped “consistent with a choroidal melanoma.”
Which means more imaging every three months for probably a year to see if it is growing, changing, etc. It’s hard to biopsy the back of the eye, so all they can really do is watch and guess, then (if necessary) hit it with radiation, lasers, or surgery to remove the mass (or, possibly, the eye).
Am I worried? Yes. But there are worse things than rocking a Snake Plissken eyepatch for the rest of my life, which sounds like both a stretch and the worst even remotely likely outcome. Fortunately I have decent health coverage (through my wife’s employer).
If I was cynical, I’d say a cancer scare was just the thing I could use to get y’all to
SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
Good thing I’m not cynical, huh?
I do hope you’ll support us because we bring you important content reliably, not because ooh, scary, poor Tom.
And I also hope you have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Iran: Regime says seven vessels hit near Strait of Hormuz, warns US of wider response
Source: Yahoo! News
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guard says seven vessels were damaged in attacks or by naval mines near the Strait of Hormuz overnight Thursday, according to Iranian state media and the IRGC Navy. The move comes amid reports that the U.S. and Israel are drawing up plans to strike Iran after the U.S. midterm elections. President Donald Trump told NewsNation that the U.S. has ceased negotiations with Iran, but demurred on indicating when any additional military actions could take place. … On Truth Social, Trump accused Iran of trying to drive up the price of oil ahead of the upcoming election.” (10/22/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/iran-says-7-vessels-hit-104842813.html
- Kushner Rages Against “Completely Insane” Report of Hacked Phone, Secret Talks
Source: Newsweek
“Jared Kushner has strongly denied allegations raised in a new Vanity Fair report that Dutch intelligence monitored activity on his phone and uncovered purported secret financial arrangements involving Middle Eastern governments, calling the claims ‘completely insane’ and saying they ‘never happened.’ … The report, written by Matthew Cole and excerpted from his forthcoming book Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East, alleges that Dutch intelligence obtained screenshots of Kushner’s iPhone through files found on a Russian military intelligence operative’s server and subsequently monitored his phone activity. … The report alleges that roughly $750 million was transferred into an account at First Abu Dhabi Bank held by the Watani Al Emarat Foundation, a UAE government-funded charity. Kushner was allegedly a signatory on the account, giving him access to it, but was not its owner … The article also alleges that a separate account in Israel received roughly $1 billion intended for Kushner’s personal benefit.” (10/22/26)
- Tibet: Earthquake kills at least 16
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“A strong earthquake struck [Chinese-occupied Tibet] on Thursday night, killing at least 16 people and injuring 65 others, Chinese state media reported. Hundreds of homes in the remote Himalayan region collapsed due to the magnitude 7.0 quake, Xinhua reported. … The earthquake’s epicenter is around 190 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Nagqu, a city around 300 kilometers north of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, the US Geological Survey said.” (10/23/26)
- Trump ordered to answer questions under oath in BBC lawsuit
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A US judge has ordered President Donald Trump to answer questions under oath in his [frivolous] defamation lawsuit against the BBC by 11 December. Trump is suing the BBC over an episode of Panorama that edited together two different sections of a speech he gave before the riot at the US Capitol in 2021. Charles Tobin, a lawyer representing the BBC, said in court that ‘we still haven’t been able to depose the plaintiff’ with two months left in the discovery period. Trump cancelled a previous deposition on 16 October, citing ‘matters of national importance’ while he was campaigning in Georgia. The judge in the case, US Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett, said that Trump must sit for the deposition by 11 December, unless the discovery period is extended.” (10/22/26)
- Venezuelans Call for Elections in First National Protest in Nearly Two Years
Source: US News & World Report
“Thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets on Thursday in the first nationwide opposition protest in nearly two years, as demonstrators demanded free elections and other political changes. The United States has been working closely with the interim government led by acting President Delcy Rodriguez since US forces captured President Nicolas Maduro in January. Both US President Donald Trump and Rodriguez, Maduro’s former deputy, have said there will be elections, but have not set a date either for a legislative vote or a national contest for president. Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has been outside the country for nearly a year after living in hiding following a contested 2024 election, has said elections must take place by July 2027. Her Vente Venezuela movement organized the protest, which took place in the capital Caracas, as well as cities including Valencia, Maracay, San Cristobal and Maracaibo.” (10/22/26)
- They Wrecked Eisenhower’s World
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“Before D-Day, Eisenhower quietly composed a handwritten note taking personal blame for the operation’s failure—he was smart enough to know that success was uncertain and that he might not be in a position to talk about it afterward; Donald Trump, a dog-ate-my-homework guy if ever there were one, takes personal responsibility for precisely nothing. Eisenhower led Allied forces to victory in World War II and at the time of his retirement outranked George Washington (who received a posthumous promotion in 1976), but he was buried in a standard-issue soldier’s coffin and lay in state with no decorations on his field jacket except his two distinguished service medals and the Legion of Merit; Trump is a draft-dodging coward currently hard at work building himself a triumphal arch like some kind of limp Caesar.” (10/23/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/eisenhower-trump-hegseth-nato/
- Poem: There Are Polymarket Ads In Fortune Cookies
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“There are Polymarket ads in fortune cookies. / And pop-ups in our prayers. / There are paywalls on the monasteries, / and the monks are millionaires. / Well little Johnny’s gone to war. / He joined the McMarines. / The Iranians must be liberated / and blown to smithereens. / Light a candle in the chapel, John, / and pray to Western God, / and listen to the homily / the preacher wrote with Claude: / ‘Oh Western God, please guide our drones,’ the pious Johnny prayed. / ‘That we may safely bomb their schools / and turn their children gray.’ / The candle disappeared from sight / a minute into Johnny’s prayer, / and was replaced with hologram ads / for DraftKings and Wayfair.” (10/25/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/10/25/there-are-polymarket-ads-in-fortune-cookies/
- Trump claims we’ve beaten Iran. But US isn’t close to victory
Source: USA Today
by Daniel R DePetris“Serving as the world’s policeman in a highly contested environment like the strait is a resource-intensive mission even for the U.S. Navy – one that involves deploying significant air platforms, air defense systems and ships on a continuous basis to perform a variety of tasks, from coordinating sea lanes and protecting vessels from Iranian attacks to ensuring search-and-rescue assets are available if ships are disabled. The U.S. military is fully capable of doing this work, but stretched out over an indefinite period of time, the mission will exacerbate the depletion of precision-guided munitions the Pentagon needs for other potential conflicts.” (10/23/26)
- AI hasn’t replaced humans entirely; employers are still betting on college degrees
Source: Fox News
by Dr. Kent Ingle“The current narrative would have you believe that higher education is a dying institution. Experts consistently claim that a four-year degree is no longer worth the investment, warning that artificial intelligence (AI) is on the verge of rendering human labor obsolete. The prevailing message dictates that machines will soon dominate the workforce, leaving the next generation with no viable career paths. But a recent Gallup poll reveals a contrasting reality. While public anxiety is high, the job market tells a different story. According to a recent Gallup study, a staggering 80% of employers prefer to hire candidates with a college degree, even for roles that do not explicitly require one. Furthermore, six in 10 employers express a high level of confidence in higher education. While public trust in institutions has undeniably plummeted, the people actually handing out paychecks still find immense value in the university system.” (10/24/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/ai-replaced-humans-employers-college-degrees
- Peter Pan Tariffs for Companies that Never Grow Up
Source: Independent Institute
by Phillip W Magness & David J Hebert“Of all the arguments for protectionism, the infant industry argument probably has the strongest theoretical appeal. By protecting a new industry from its more developed foreign competition, the story goes, tariffs give domestic producers the time to grow, learn, and become efficient enough to stand on their own. Domestic consumers feel the short-term pains of higher prices, but they enjoy the long-term gains of job growth and lower prices as the new industry blossoms. … When Hamilton made this claim in 1791, his argument may have seemed suitable for a new nation seeking to firm up its economy and security against established European powers. … Nearly 250 years later, those same infants apparently have yet to advance into adulthood.” (10/23/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/23/peter-pan-tariffs-for-companies-that-never-grow-up/
- Elections in four nations highlight role of rule of law
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Multiple annual measures of political openness and the rule of law have found both in global decline in recent years. The latest Rule of Law Index, released by the World Justice Project (WJP) Wednesday, underscores this democratic recession. As checks and balances on governments have weakened, authoritarianism has ‘become entrenched’, the nonprofit noted. This, in turn, has constricted freedom of expression, association, and civic participation in about two-thirds of the 143 countries assessed. But there are also positive glimmers: The share of countries registering decline dropped from 68% in 2025 to 62% this year. And access to and affordability of civil justice have improved. Perhaps more significant, the WJP’s findings reaffirm the robust link between transparent, consistent rule of law and a key dimension of citizen well-being – economic prosperity.” (10/23/26)
- New Mexico’s $25 billion verdict against Meta is fundamentally about speech
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Trace Mitchell“Most coverage calls it a privacy case. But a jury judged whether Facebook’s moderation claims were true, creating a blueprint for policing moderation.” (10/23/26)
https://www.fire.org/news/new-mexicos-25-billion-verdict-against-meta-fundamentally-about-speech
- Trump is doing everything he can to shake down voters ahead of the midterms
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Robin Abcarian“The end of the Trump era is in sight. … But we also know that Trump will never go gently. This is not conjecture. We already have proof that Trump is incapable of accepting defeat, that he is not above trying to cheat to get what he wants and that he is perfectly willing to sit back and watch a violent mob try to overturn election results he didn’t like. The Washington Post reported last week that a small, nonpartisan group of current and former U.S. national security officials ‘motivated by a growing sense of alarm’ has been quietly advising state and federal lawmakers on how to prepare for Trump administration interference with the midterm elections. It’s not just security officials. Most of the country is worried.” (10/25/26)
- The Greatest Little Town You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
Source: Liberalism.org
by David T Beito“It is doubtful that any other American small town has contributed so much to the advancement of human freedom during the twentieth century as Mound Bayou. Without it, such civil rights icons as Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, and possibly Rosa Parks might have remained invisible to history. Evers and Hamer both lived and worked in Mound Bayou during the early 1950s, and as we shall see, Parks’s story intersects with it as well. … One precondition of Mound Bayou’s success as an outpost for free expression was a political environment that encouraged business ownership and law and order. In this respect, the founders of the community shared the same view as their ally Booker T. Washington, who argued that economic power provided the most secure foundation for the protection of individual rights.” (10/23/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/the-greatest-little-town-you-ve-probably-never-heard-of
- Sumner’s Worries Should Be Our Worries Too
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman“We need not agree with every detail to see what Sumner was getting at. Reality is real; everything is something specific; A is A. To live properly—life is conditional—we must understand the facts. Further, people differ in intelligence, talents, preferences, and predispositions. That’s the way it is. The behaviorist delusion that all individuals are essentially the same and could achieve anything given the right environment is balderdash.” (10/23/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-sumners-worries-should-be-our
- Forget the riots; France’s downfall will come from its completely broken finances
Source: New York Post
by Dominic Green“The English say all bad ideas come from France, but that is unfair to the Germans. The scenes of riot and destruction from France may arise from our Gallic friends’ particular circumstances and peculiar habits, but they reflect Europe’s general malaise — one to which the United States is not immune. The ‘French intifada’ is overthrowing the icons of France. The images are as memorable as the menu at Maxim’s restaurant. A statue of Joan of Arc is defiled with the Palestinian flag. A bust of Marianne, the icon of the French Revolution, is cast to the ground in the trashed city hall of Marseilles. The 19th-century town hall of Limoges goes up in flames. The statistics are as stunning as Maxim’s prices.” (10/24/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/10/24/opinion/forget-the-riots-frances-finances-will-be-its-downfall/
- Jared Kushner’s Middle Eastern Spoils System
Source: Liberal Currents
by Adam Gurri“We often talk about how much worse the second term has been, and it has been worse. But that is not because they were just innocent men in the first term—their position was simply weaker, then. They were complete outsiders to the practice of politics and had to rely on personnel that did not share their objectives or methods. They began hollowing out that institutional resistance and building relationships that would give them a freer hand. That began right away, in 2017, with things like Kushner’s Dubai slush fund. It is a cliché to note that the abuses of empire frequently end up coming home. What we see in the Trump family instead is decades of cozying up to Gulf ‘monarchies’ and dictatorships coming home. Every ‘common form of Gulf Arab corruption’ is on display in both terms of the Trump administration, and then some.” (10/23/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/jared-kushners-middle-eastern-spoils-system/
- How Britain Lost Its Energy Advantage
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Sebastian Charleton“Britain was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution—where cheap, abundant coal fuelled the inventions that built the modern world. Those breakthroughs—railways, modern medicine and electricity—transformed humanity. But we often forget that it was energy, our ability to produce it and (crucially) to store it, that made all of this possible. Yet despite this proud history as the original energy superpower, modern Britain is anything but: it is burdened by crumbling infrastructure, a sclerotic planning system and skyrocketing bills. Central to these energy challenges is our energy insecurity.” (10/23/26)
https://fee.org/articles/how-britain-lost-its-energy-advantage/
- Democrats Need Both Subpoenas and Supply
Source: The UnPopulist
by Gary Winslett“In the lead-up to the midterms, Democrats have begun to fuse their messaging on the cost of living with a focus on corruption. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer went so far as to argue that the two reinforce each other. Rep. Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, even directly said ‘corruption is why costs are so high.’ It isn’t hard to see why the party wants to talk about both at the same time. As poll after poll has shown, the cost of living is voters’ top concern. Simultaneously, 89% of Americans say that government corruption is widespread. And the Trump administration in particular is astoundingly, breathtakingly corrupt. If Democrats take the House or Senate, they should aggressively investigate the Trump administration’s many misdeeds. But it is also important that Democrats not trick themselves into thinking that focusing on corruption is an adequate solution to lowering costs.” (10/23/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/democrats-need-both-subpoenas-and
- What Is It?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“There’s this notion that in France, at least, violent protests are just a part of French culture. A culture warped by the disastrous French Revolution centuries ago? My bet is that, if we inquired deeper, we’d discover that this is not exactly so. That certain groups push violent protest every now and then for reasons of political goals that are not about either social justice or liberty. We in America, who have been blessed with the freest society on the planet, are not quite as prone as Europeans to the vice of violent protest. But we are not immune, and we must start taking virtue — responsible self-government — seriously. Again.” (10/23/26)
- To End Iran War, US Must Understand Tehran’s Perspective
Source: Center for International Policy
by Sina Toossi“The war between the United States and Iran persists in a dangerous strategic stalemate. As Washington maintains a punishing economic and maritime blockade, Tehran continues to restrict passage through the Strait of Hormuz, imposing mounting costs on the United States, its allies, and the global economy. Neither side appears prepared to concede. The Pentagon is sending a third aircraft carrier strike group to the region, while the Trump administration is reportedly considering strikes against Iranian nuclear and energy infrastructure, potentially using the GBU-43/B bomb, known as ‘the mother of all bombs’. Both moves support the possibility of the United States attempting to break this stalemate through force. Iran, meanwhile, has in recent weeks intensified attacks on commercial vessels attempting to transit Hormuz outside its designated route, with strikes becoming more frequent and destructive. Washington appears to be continuing to misread the Iran it is confronting.” (10/24/26)
https://internationalpolicy.org/publications/war-has-changed-tehran-washington-should-take-notice/
- My Musk Problem And Ours
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan“I haven’t written much about Elon Musk these past few years. I’m no expert in rocket science, or in cars of any kind. I tended to think of him as a classic robber-baron type, an American immigrant of excessive energy, pragmatism, and nerve. I watched the video of the flying car the other day and it was as mind-blowing as that now routinely re-captured rocket. But genius and character are not often aligned, and he is becoming, it seems to me, dangerous to our democracy and the world.” (10/23/26)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/my-musk-problem-and-ours
- Slouching toward Kaliningrad, NATO dismisses a nuclear threat
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Anatol Lieven“During the Cold War, the exclave of West Berlin, isolated in the middle of Communist East Germany, was regarded as one of the most dangerous potential flashpoints for a conflict between the Soviet Union and the West. … It is now common for Western security analysts to describe the ‘Suwalki Gap’ in northeast Poland, situated between Kaliningrad and Russia’s ally Belarus, as the most dangerous point in the growing Russia-NATO confrontation. Yet they carefully omit to recall that it was NATO, not Russia, that made it so.” (10/23/26)
- A World Without Stories
Source: Law & Liberty
by Rachel Lu“Lois Lowry’s Building 903 projects readers into a desiccated, post-literate world.” (10/23/26)
- Some Democrats Hook Up With Family Members; They All Want to Screw You
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter“I know a lot of people, all of whom dated around before finding the person they eventually married. Every single one of them, to a person, knows for certain whether or not the people they dated were related to them. No ambiguity, no open question, no qualifiers on their answer – they knew whether or not they’d been fishing off the family pier. That question, however, gets murky for some… apparently. Where most people could definitively say they’d never picked anyone up at Thanksgiving dinner, many Democrats have to think about it, and some still do not know. Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar, representing Mogadishu, is one such person.” (10/24/26)
- DOJ Sues to Prevent Certification of Alaska Senate Winner (If It’s a Democrat)
Source: Cato Institute
by Walter Olson“I believe that this lawsuit is abusive in its intentions and borders on frivolous in its arguments, and that it is destined for defeat in the courts should it reach the merits. It borders on frivolous because it attempts to stretch a federal statute, the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), beyond recognition by snipping language from the law’s preamble and treating it as if it creates vast and open-ended new duties that the federal government can enforce on states. That is not a natural reading of the text, nor is it one that courts have taken. If accepted, it would suddenly federalize many issues of local election administration.” (10/23/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/doj-sues-prevent-certification-alaska-senate-winner-its-democrat
- Why the ‘Odds of Mischief Are High’ in These Midterms
Source: Foreign Policy
by Michael Hirsh“With U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval rating at record lows amid high inflation spiked by an unpopular war, many pundits view the upcoming midterm elections as the only serious emergency brake left for the nation. But even if, as expected, Democrats win substantial victories in the House and possibly the Senate—and if Trump doesn’t follow through on his threats to call it fraud and somehow nullify the vote—the nation may still be heading into a political morass. Rather than rallying around a common direction—other than opposition to Trump—the Democratic Party appears to lack anything like a coherent governing philosophy or compelling leadership.” (10/23/26)
- The Panic of 1837: An Austrian View
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter“If one has any awareness of the Panic of 1837 at all, one has likely been treated to the conventional story, wherein—as usual—the economic crisis and ensuing depression were supposedly caused by a lack of sufficient government regulation. In this case, the blame falls largely on Andrew Jackson and his destruction of the Second Bank of the United States. … the traditional anti-Jackson narrative remains influential in popular accounts of the period. However, an Austrian examination of the crisis raises important questions about the role of government intervention, banking privileges, and the credit expansion that preceded the panic.” (10/23/26)
- “I am Trying to Figure Out the Way to Do This”: MS NOW, Omar, and the Art of the Evasion
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“‘I am trying to figure out the way to do this’. Those words from MS NOW’s Chris Hayes say all you need to know (and likely all you will get) from his interview on Wednesday with Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. There is a litany of questions the liberal host never asked of Omar. Those questions have only increased over the years, leading to the current criminal investigation into immigration fraud. At points, Hayes sounded more like a supplicant than a journalist given his discomfort with asking pressing questions. The interview had the journalistic nutritional content of a Slurpee that would give any liberal a sugar high and any non-liberal a stomachache.” (10/24/26)
- Informal Rules for Americans in the US Empire
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“There are informal rules for American citizens about living in the U.S. Empire. Mind you, most of them are not codified into law. They are not found in an imperially published citizen’s manual. But American citizens are expected to know these informal rules and abide by them. Violations can result in criminal penalties or, more commonly, social ostracism, accusations of disloyalty and hatred of America, and even charges of sympathizing with terrorists or even being terrorists. In some circumstances, violations of the informal rules can also lead to criminal penalties. One informal rule is that when the Empire initiates a military attack on a small, militarily weak, economically impoverished country, American citizens are expected to cheer for the Empire and support the troops, even though the Empire is the aggressor in the conflict.” (10/23/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/10/23/informal-rules-for-americans-in-the-u-s-empire/
- Trump Administration May Have Lied to Judge About ICE flight to Equatorial Guinea
Source: The American Prospect
by Gillian Brockell“Attorneys asked a judge to bar an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) charter flight from leaving Equatorial Guinea Friday unless their client was onboard in an emergency motion filed shortly after the aircraft landed on the island city of Malabo. An ICE official had told the judge in a sworn statement a day earlier that the flight to Equatorial Guinea had been canceled, a claim the attorneys called ‘plainly false’. Flight data indicates the plane took off two hours and 30 minutes later, before the judge issued a ruling.” (10/23/26)
- When Conservationists Join the Farm Lobby
Source: The Daily Economy
by Jane Shaw Stroup“An unlikely alliance between farmers and conservationists illustrates how government subsidies create political constituencies that lobby to preserve them.” (10/23/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/when-conservationists-join-the-farm-lobby/
- The Founders Warned Against Secret Arrests. ICE Is Testing That Principle.
Source: Reason
by Autumn Billings“Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in January 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims more than 1.1 million people have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) combined. But so far, the names of most arrestees have been kept secret. This lack of public disclosure threatens Americans’ ability to hold the government accountable.” (10/23/26)
- The Plausible Techno-Dystopian Future
Source: Liberal Currents
by Nicholas Grossman“AI apocalypse fears went mainstream last month after an Anthropic researcher resigned, saying the technology has more than a 10% chance of wiping out humanity. Leaders of AI companies called for a collective slowdown of development. In the process, the public learned that the tech industry’s conception of AI safety is dominated by a small group of people who believe, with a certainty and devotion resembling religion, that an artificial superintelligence will arrive soon and take over the world. Befitting that millenarian outlook, they appear to have an unhealthy internal culture, part of which sure looks like a sex cult.” (10/23/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-plausible-techno-dystopian-future/
- The Fed Can Pause, But Inflation Won’t
Source: The Daily Economy
by Matthew Schaffer“With prices rising and nominal spending running hot, the Fed’s own projections and policy rules suggest further tightening ahead.” (10/23/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-fed-may-pause-but-inflation-wont/
- The University’s Soul Has Been Uploaded
Source: Common Dreams
by Timothy Scott“Universities are making a consequential concession: allowing privately owned generative AI systems into the very processes through which students learn to read, write, reason, and exercise judgment. Their adoption is increasingly presented as inevitable. AI exists, so higher education must adapt. Under this logic, adoption is expected, while refusal requires an explanation. But technological availability is not educational justification. Before reorganizing teaching and learning around these systems, universities should answer the question that advocates of adoption too often avoid: Why should AI be there at all? The language of inevitability obscures who is responsible.” [editor’s note: The language of inevitability is the language of fact; since AI exists, students will use it, end of story. No amount of whining about it will change it – TLK] (10/24/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/do-universities-need-ai
- What Is Another Round of Bombing in Iran Actually Going to Achieve?
Source: The American Conservative
by Jude Russo“Sometimes you have to restate the obvious—dirty work, but someone has to do it: Another round of strikes is unlikely to accomplish this war’s stated political goals, which themselves change on a regular basis. While never-ending, mindless destruction for its own sake has its charms, I guess, generally speaking a war is supposed to accomplish something; the ‘something’ here has been at various times and non-exclusively the end of the Iranian nuclear program, reopening the Strait of Hormuz (which was open before the war), and regime change. The going theory among the teeming intellects downtown appears to be that yet another movement in the symphony of death, in concert with Scott Bessent’s exotic economic maneuvers, will get the Iranians to cry uncle and/or provoke a change of management in Tehran. Anything is possible, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.” (10/23/26)
- The Swamp King
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm“An uncanny strength of the second Trump administration has been its ability to be involved in so many scandals that no single one seems to become a dominant story. Take the most recent allegations about Alina Habba, Trump’s former personal defense attorney, who recently landed a plush gig working for Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan banker. Habba will get $50 million over five years to do unspecified work for a company that barely exists, according to The New York Times, while Herrera got a presidential pardon for a 2025 campaign finance charge. That’s just a typical day for the current White House, where the mingling of personal and public business has become routine.” (10/22/26)
- Will Trump Suspend the Midterm Elections?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“According to election polls, Democrats are fairly certain to take control over the U.S. House of Representatives. There is now also the possibility that they could take control over the U.S. Senate. Realizing the danger he faces of losing control over Congress, President Trump is barnstorming the country, doing his best to rally his MAGA supporters to go to the polls and vote. But a question naturally arises: If Trump becomes certain that he faces defeat next month, will he switch directions and simply suspend the midterm elections? After all, one cannot lose an election if no election is held.” (10/22/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/10/22/will-trump-suspend-the-midterm-elections/
- Repairing Rothbardian Monopoly Theory
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“After leading with the theory of perfect competition, economics textbooks standardly add a ‘corrective’ chapter on the evils of monopoly. While they occasionally mention government-created monopoly, the focus is almost always on the harm of free-market monopoly, and the necessity of antitrust laws to combat such monopoly. A free-market monopoly is a business that manages to control a whole industry, and uses its control to slash output and raise prices. Later textbook chapters move on to markets with varying degrees of ‘monopoly power’ – and broadly conclude that as monopoly power goes up, market performance goes down. The moral: Free markets are only optimal in an extreme polar case. The further the real world strays from that case, the more suboptimal they become – and the more regulation improves the free-market outcome. Murray Rothbard rejects this picture, using three different sets of arguments.” (10/22/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/repairing-rothbardian-monopoly-theory
- Free Talk Live, 10/24/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Dave Ridley calls about the Hugging Face attack :: NickBostrom.com :: NH rules ‘no more student IDs for voting’ :: Technology Support Office :: EU worsens data laws :: Michael in TX calls about police abuses of power :: Sarah gets yelled at by Nobody :: ‘heat ray’ may be used by CBP at southern border :: Skeeter gets yelled at by Nobody :: 2026-10-24 :: Hosts: Stu, Riley O’Bill, Nobody.” (10/24/26)
- Reason Interview: Ted Brown
Source: Reason
“Could a Libertarian Swing the Texas Senate Race?” (10/23/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/10/23/could-a-libertarian-swing-the-texas-senate-race/
- Half the Answer, episode 110
Source: Liberal Currents
“What a Future with Fewer Vehicles Will Look Like.” (10/23/26)
- Anarcho Agenda, episode 152
Source: Anarcho Agenda
“They want you fighting each other so they can keep running things.” (10/23/26)
- Counterpunch Radio, 10/23/26
Source: CounterPunch
“Unphazed w/ Nasser Mashni of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.” (10/23/26)
- Serious Trouble, 10/23/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“‘Esquire’ Is My Middle Name.” (10/23/26)
- The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell, 10/24/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Trump’s $10 Billion BBC Lawsuit Just Backfired (w/ Andrew Weissmann).” (10/24/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 10/23/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“More War With Iran? Prepare For Even Higher Prices.” (10/23/26)
- The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, 10/23/26
Source: The New Republic
“Dimwit Trump Praise of Vile Ramaswamy Ad Backfires as GOP Panic Erupts.” (10/23/26)
- Nonzero, 10/23/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Humanity: An Earth’s-Eye View | Robert Wright & Boris Shoshitaishvili.” (10/23/26)
- Freakonomics Radio, episode 692
Source: Freakonomics
“What Will A.I. Do to (and for) Human Creativity?” (10/23/26)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/what-will-a-i-do-to-and-for-human-creativity/
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 10/23/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“Weirdumentary: Exploring the 1970s Strange Documentary Boom w/ Gary D. Rhodes.” (10/23/26)
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 506
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Marshall Wilson on running for US Senate from West Virginia.” (10/23/26)
https://rumble.com/v7hb9zk-ff-506-marshall-wilson-on-running-for-us-senate-from-west-virginia.html
- The Dispatch Podcast, 10/23/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Vivek Ramaswamy’s Vicious Attack Ad May Backfire.” (10/23/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/vivek-ramaswamys-vicious-attack-ad-may-backfire/
- The Anarchist Experience, episode 603
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich and Riley talk about this week’s online security breach, healthcare around the world, and this HEADLINE: Hero Oregon Dad Showed the Importance of Defying Restrictive Gun Laws.” (10/23/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/10/23/the-anarchist-experience-603/
- The Political Orphanage, 10/22/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Why Corporations Are People.” (10/22/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/why-corporations-are-people
- Politics Politics Politics, 10/22/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“The Inside Story Behind that Amy Acton Ad. The Hottest Data Center Party in DC (with Abby Turner and Ed Tarnowski).” (10/22/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/the-inside-story-behind-that-amy
- The Fifth Column, episode 580
Source: The Fifth Column
“Donald Trump is Gay.” (10/22/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/donald-trump-is-gay-episode-580
- Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 10/22/26
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“Ray Youssef (cryptocurrency pioneer) on activism, peer-to-peer crypto solutions for the Global South; Entrepreneur, Developer, Humanitarian, and CEO of the Resistance.” (10/22/26)
- Underthrow Podcast, 10/22/26
Source: Underthrow
“The Adjacent Possible Will Decide Our Future.” (10/22/26)